Door closer’s fire credentials enhanced

Samuel Heath’s commitment to ensuring that its Powermatic controlled, concealed door closers provide the ultimate assurance in quality and performance has been further underlined with the successful completion of additional full-sized fire testing on both timber and steel fire doors at renowned testing laboratory, Exova Warrington Fire.

30-minute
testing in accordance with BS EN 1634-1 was undertaken on a timber
fire door constructed with a Halspan core to replace Powermatic’s
current small-scale indicative testing for the BS476 assessment.

The
door set easily achieved the 30-minute test requirements, continuing
until final failure occurred at 42 minutes. Significantly, where most
timber door fire tests fail due to failure of the hinge/timber joint,
which causes the door to drop and intumescent seal to break at the
top of the door, Powermatic was actually shown to hold the door in
place after the hinge/timber joint failure. This is attributed to the
design, strength and location of Powermatic, which fits in a similar
position to hinges, between the door and door frame.

Most
notably though, and in common with other fire tests including
Powermatic, there was no evidence of any significant heat transfer in
the vicinity where the closer was installed.

The
uninsulated steel door passed the four-hour test comfortably. As a
result, the test evidence will allow certification to cover both
insulated and non-insulated doors at any fire rating up to and
including four hours.

Adam
Daniels, Head of Design at Samuel Heath, states, “Recent tragic
events have highlighted the need for the stringent adherence to fire
safety regulations and the selection of products which meet essential
performance criteria. These latest tests provide additional proof of
Powermatic’s suitability for both timber and steel fire doors. They
have also yielded some pleasing information on the additional
benefits that the door closers deliver. We know that specifiers
working on private and public building projects will welcome these
findings.”